Rethinking How We Teach the Bible to Young People

Observe many Bible classes for kids and teens and you will probably see one of two basic types of Bible classes. The first is what we call “consumer” Bible classes. These are planned so that those who participate have fun if they are in elementary school or come away with an emotional high if they are a teen. Often, if you closely examine the lesson content, very little Bible is taught and any activities do little to expand student comprehension or help them remember and practice important concepts.

The other type of Bible class resembles the type of class you might see in a local public school – only with the Bible substituted for a secular subject. Sounds like students might learn more in these classes, and they might in some cases. The book Grasp by Sanjay Yoquinto points out the problem with copying all of the teaching methods in your local school, however. According to the author, education has evolved to weed people out of the system, not help each learner reach his or her full potential. While that is problematic enough on a secular level, it completely undermines the purpose of Bible classes.

We should want every child who enters the door of our Bible class to spend eternity in Heaven. It’s not our job to winnow out the kids who can’t learn the way we teach. We need to re-examine everything we are doing to see if each and everything we do is reaching every student. If something isn’t, then we need to make the changes the young people being left behind need, so they can learn what they need to know to become a Christian and live an active, productive Christian life.

Secular schools have also become places where a great deal of information is memorized for tests, but little is done to help students learn how to think critically or put the knowledge they have into practice in their lives. Woodie Flowers once said, “There is a difference between learning calculus and learning to think using calculus.” Too many Bible classes that really are trying to teach their students have the same problem. They are teaching young people the Bible without teaching them how to think using the Bible. We need to spend more time not just giving them activities to help them better understand and remember what was taught, but activities designed to encourage them to use what they are learning in their thought processes and how they live their lives.

Want more practical help in making these changes in your Bible classes? You can search our past blog posts, look through our activity ideas and volunteer training materials, read our e-books or schedule us to provide a consultation or training workshops at your location. Don’t let scores of young people fall away because we aren’t willing to do the hard work to make our Bible classes what they need to be. Make needed changes before one more young person is lost to the world!

Categories Bible, Book Reviews, Elementary, Teens
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